


Upgrade

by blueorangecrush



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Not Hockey Players (Hockey RPF), and they were ROOMMATES
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22068946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueorangecrush/pseuds/blueorangecrush
Summary: Tom's last roommate was on a hell of a downward spiral when he moved out. The guy who answered the sublet ad is making Tom's life better, and Tom never wants him to leave.
Relationships: T. J. Oshie/Tom Wilson
Comments: 3
Kudos: 67
Collections: Hockey Holidays 2019





	Upgrade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [storiesinthedark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesinthedark/gifts).

> Happy hockey holidays, I hope you enjoy this fic!
> 
> Content notes for anyone who needs: 
> 
> 1) There is a bit of dysfunctional alcohol use here, nothing over the top.  
2) Random threat of violence that nobody has any intention of acting on.  
3) A bit of bros being bros, talking about picking up chicks and the like.  
4) TJ's RL wife appears as an ex-wife in a mostly-amicable split, and their kids show up a little in a shared custody arrangement. No cheating happens or anything like that.

Tom doesn’t get it, that’s all.

He doesn’t get why in this latest corporate reorganization he was the one that got promoted to Tier 3 – Escalations, and Mike was the one that got laid off.

Or – he gets it but he doesn’t want to.

It sucks. He’d been there with Mike from the beginning, a couple of young guys whose community college work co-op placed them at Capitech and then got hired full-time after the co-op thing was done.

They’d moved out of their parents’ place, into a cheap crappy three-bedroom apartment where they ate at a ping-pong table in the third bedroom turned rec room and kept a fridge stocked with eggs and ketchup and beer - and not much else. And they’d done some stupid shit, as you do when you’re, like, barely old enough to legally drink and out on your own for the first time.

Tom had done some _really_ stupid shit – got into it in a bad way with a customer. He’d let his temper get the best of him, and he got written up for yelling about kicking a guy’s ass – his team lead had explained that while he knew Tom didn’t literally physically mean it and all, that was still technically workplace violence, and regrettably any future incident blah blah.

Braden sent Tom home for the rest of the day without pay, and Tom had just gotten his key in the lock, was thinking about the beer he was gonna drink and the virtual monsters he was gonna kick the shit out of – and then something stopped him.

Maybe this wasn’t rock bottom. Maybe he didn’t want to get to rock bottom.

Instead of heading for the kitchen, he had gone to his room, dug up that gym bag he hadn’t used in a while, threw a change of workout clothes in it, dug his good sneakers out from the mess under his bed, and then took his ass to Planet Fitness, which was having a cheap deal on a year of membership.

\--

It made a difference. Still makes a difference.

It’s not like it was in high school, when shit went wrong for his family and he had to quit playing hockey because his parents just couldn’t afford the gear and the ice time anymore. When they sold the house and moved back into a smaller apartment in another district, and suddenly Tom was the angry nerd who looked like a jock. 

It helped to have Mike. Mike had always been in the situation that was new to Tom. Except more so.

They had kept each other out of the worst of trouble, had stumbled through high school together with a bit of help on the copying-each-other’s-homework front, had made it to and through an associate’s in tech support together. Got jobs and a place and it was fine.

It was better than fine.

Until Tom had his wake-up call, started working out – Mike wouldn’t come with him, apparently weightlifting builds your body by destroying your brain, or whatever the fuck? – and looked up how to get work to pay for him to take some college classes online. Maybe he’d finish a whole degree.

Tom had started eating more eggs and less ramen, started drinking beer pretty much only when Mike was around and less of it, but their beer stash was disappearing at the same rate.

So yeah, it does make sense when you look it like that, that Tom is getting promoted and Mike is getting laid off. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck.

Mike was – Mike. A constant, a fixture, _family._ Tom would say “like a brother” but that isn’t even the right word. Phrase. _Whatever._

But now Mike’s out of a job, and his parents had moved out of the area to take care of his mom’s parents, and he’s talking about moving back in with them.

So Tom needs a subletter.

He wants to say “fuck my life” but. But it’s the fact that he un-fucked his life that has him in this situation.

\--

The guy who answers his ad for a sublet – well, he’s not what Tom expected, for wanting to live in their part of town. He’s new, new to the DC metro, and apparently new to Capitech. They’re gonna be on the desk together, and Tom wonders if this is a replacement-goldfish situation. That he’s just supposed to fit TJ – weird name, apparently it’s Timothy and his middle initial isn’t even J but he just would rather go by that? – in where Mike used to be.

He wants to be jealous of TJ, for having the life he was supposed to have had. TJ didn’t have to quit hockey in high school. He even got to play all the way through college, which meant he got to _go_ to regular college like a regular person.

But the dude’s too much fun, too much awesome to be jealous for long. And besides, it’s not like he hasn’t had a rough time of it. He’s recently divorced and the child support bills limit how much of a place he can afford. That was a thing they talked about when TJ answered the sublet ad, that sometimes his girls might stay for the weekend or for a school break. So the rec room has Mike’s stupid pin-up posters out and a set of bunk beds in, and every couple weeks there are a couple of little girls running around.

It’s motivation, in a way. Motivation for Tom to keep his life on track. These aren’t his kids, but they’re kids who stay in his house, and he wants to be a good example.

He wonders why TJ and his wife split up, but that’s not his business. If it gets to be his business he’s sure TJ will tell him.

\--

It takes Tom a while to realize, without Mike around, he’s not going out and trying to pick up anymore. That that was another thing he’d stopped doing when he started getting his life together. He’s gone from “I’d hit that” to hitting the books and he misses it a lot less than he thought he would.

He says something about that to TJ one day, when they’re stopping by Planet Fitness for an after-work workout, and TJ gives a sad, understanding chuckle. TJ seems like he’s about to say something else, too, but then drops it.

\--

They’re hanging out later, over a rare and much better quality beer than Tom would’ve had with Mike, and TJ finishes what he was going to say. He talks about how his ex-wife was a great person, and they were good friends and got married because it’s what you do and because it would make both their families happy. And they had kids and the kids were great. But she didn’t want to be married, thought maybe she didn’t want to be with men. And it was weird, because it’s the 2010s and people are supposed to be fine and chill with someone being gay or lesbian or whatever, but it’s different when you apply it to yourself.

Tom asks him what that means, does it mean TJ thinks any of it applies to him?

TJ just shrugs. “Not that I’ve…tried to do anything about. I know what they say, don’t get involved with anyone till a year after the divorce is final. That’s still, like, eight months away – meanwhile I’m just trying to have a life, you know?”

\--

Eight months.

Eight months is when the lease will be up, when TJ won’t necessarily stick with the sublet.

Eight months is two more semesters of taking two college classes online that Capitech pays for – he’s taking accounting and economics and letting TJ help him out, and making TJ dinner as some kind of thank-you gift. It started out as buying pizza, but then…well, Tom figured out he can cook stuff that isn’t eggs and ramen and fucking White Castle burgers drowned in ketchup. Like, _vegetables_ are a thing now, and he can make a decent fajita. And waffles. TJ’s daughters love it when Tom makes waffles.

Eight months is a “Workplace Corporate Fitness Challenge” come and gone at Capitech, and Tom and TJ kicking ass at it, and TJ even dragging Tom back out on the ice for a Stick-n-Puck drill. It had been, what, ten years? Eleven? Since he’d had a hockey stick in his hand, and it still felt good. And if his eyes ended up a little too damp and bright, he could always blame the cold of the rink.

Too late this year, TJ had said, but maybe next year they could find a beer league, could suit up for fun.

Maybe. With the extra cash Tom’s bringing in from the promotion, maybe he _could_ budget that.

\--

Seven months up out of eight and Tom has to ask.

“So do we keep this place, or…I don’t know.”

TJ looks uncomfortable for a moment but then shrugs and says, “Not like I wanna go apartment-hunting, may as well stay here if you’re not kicking me out.”

Tom wants to laugh. “Why would I kick you out, dude? You’re, like, turning me into a real adult, having you around is a giant life upgrade!”

TJ’s still looking down. “Yeah, I like it here too.”

“O…kay. So what’s wrong? What’s up.”

“I just. Shit, you don’t want to hear this.”

“Dude, if it’s about where my ass is gonna be living, I _need_ to hear it whether I want to or not.”

TJ’s voice drops to barely audible. “What if I like it here too much?”

“Huh? I don’t –“

“What if – this is so stupid –“

“Wasn’t I just saying you were turning _me_ into a real adult?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s supposed to mean _use your fucking words_ like an adult.”

TJ takes a slow breath. “What if I like it here because you and I are already better roommates than I ever was with my fucking _wife,_ and that scares the shit out of me? What if I don’t really believe in that bullshit about waiting a full year after the divorce is final and I’m using it as an excuse because I don’t want to pick up chicks, or dudes, I just want to come home to you? And what if I think maybe I should move out because this is going to just freak you -” TJ trails off as Tom moves closer, not even thinking about what he’s doing or how it must look.

“Fuck this, I want –“ Tom can’t even finish that thought, he just pulls TJ into him, kisses TJ until he just about forgets how to breathe.

TJ pulls back, laughing. “Uh…so much for using our words?”

“So much for being reasonable adults?”

TJ grins. “Still wanna live with me?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Uh…and I guess…boyfriends, then?”

“Hell yeah on that too.”

“What do we tell my girls?”

Tom smiles, remembering the last time the girls were there asking him for waffles. “I think they know.”

TJ laughs as he says "I think you're right."

Tom loves hearing him laugh.


End file.
